Departments/schools and partner institutions are responsible for nominating suitable External Examiners for appointment for all awards. The relevant Faculty Dean is responsible for the approval of nominations.
The nominating department/school, or partner institution, need to ensure they have appropriate evidence that the proposed External Examiner meets all the criteria for selection; where these criteria are not fully met, a written case for an exception must be submitted with the nomination form for consideration by the relevant Faculty Dean (see exceptions below).
External Examiners should have:
To ensure impartiality and that potential conflicts of interest are identified and resolved prior to appointment, departments/schools or partner institutions should not nominate anyone to whom the following applies:
Departments/schools and partner institutions are encouraged to source External Examiners from different institutions in order that a wide range of academic experience and practice can contribute to the enhancement of academic provision at the University of Essex. It is therefore preferable that departments/schools and partner institutions do not nominate academics based in different departments/schools of institutions from which they have already appointed a current External Examiner, however, an arrangement like this could be endorsed if a sufficient supporting rationale is provided along with an overview of the range of institutions that External Examiners are from within the department/school alongside the initial nomination.
Where a nominee does not fulfil all the specified criteria (for instance in disciplines which are very small or specialist, or where Examiners are drawn from business or a profession) the relevant Executive Dean or nominee may consider a request for exceptional appointment. A written case for appointment should be enclosed with the nomination form.